Paw stars: Four-legged actors steal the show from humans in new movies and series

SINGAPORE – Remember Crookshanks, Dogpool and Krypto? These furry characters from the Harry Potter films (2001 to 2011), Deadpool & Wolverine (2024) and Superman (2025) are now pop culture icons.

There is a saying in show business to never work with animals, but sometimes the greatest actors can come on four legs. 

Taking on roles in genres such as romance, crime and horror, these dogs, and cat, prove they not only can handle diverse roles, but they also steal the show from their human counterparts. 

Love Is For The Dogs (HBO Max)

Puppy love is given new meaning in Japanese drama Love Is For The Dogs (2025), which revolves around the question: What happens when your dog falls in love with another dog? 

That is what happens to top divorce lawyer Aiko (Kaya Kiyohara). While taking Sakura for a walk, Aiko’s mame shiba inu meets Shogun, a miniature goldendoodle, and sparks fly between both pooches immediately. 

Shogun’s owner, Kai (Ryo Narita), a vet who runs a 24-hour animal hospital, jokes that it is love at first sight for their pets.

Aiko, who is a romance sceptic, brushes it off as ridiculous and turns down a suggested play date. However, when another chance encounter brings Sakura and Shogun together again, Aiko cannot help but wonder if there is really something between the dogs. 

What Kai and Aiko do not realise is that their pets are playing matchmakers for their lonely, single pawrents. 

The sweet 10-episode series streaming on HBO Max also stars South Korean actor Na In-woo as Woo Seo-ha, a love rival who seems to have a special connection with Shogun. But the real stars are the two adorable canines.

Good Boy (74 minutes, opens Oct 30)

Playing on the belief that dogs can sense the supernatural, Good Boy (2025) is an experimental project from first-time feature film-maker Ben Leonberg.

Told from the perspective of canine hero Indy, a Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever of the same name, the story follows Indy and his human companion Todd (Shane Jensen) as they relocate from the city to a long-vacant rural family home.

Indy is all ready for a new adventure, but when they arrive at the creepy-looking house, the canine is instantly wary of their new abode. He starts to hear a distant whining of a dog and senses an unwelcome presence in the house.

Sure enough, a malevolent being starts to haunt Todd and it is up to the loyal hound to protect his master against the dark spirit.

Filmed over 400 days, a considerably long shoot, Good Boy had its premiere at the SXSW Film Festival in Texas in March 2025 to critical acclaim, especially of Indy’s ability to emote with his eyes.

Caught Stealing (Streaming early 2026)

Black comedy Caught Stealing (2025) features an all-star cast that includes Austin Butler, Zoe Kravitz, Regina King, Matt Smith, Liev Schreiber, Vincent D’Onofrio and rapper Bad Bunny. It is helmed by the Oscar-nominated Darren Aronofsky. 

Yet all these talented human stars are no match for a fluffy Siberian Forest Cat named Tonic, who upstages everyone as Bud the cat. 

Set in 1990s New York, Russ (Smith) asks his neighbour, bartender Hank (Butler), to cat-sit Bud as he has to return to London to visit his ailing father. 

Despite Hank’s protests and declaration that he is a “dog person”, he not only ends up looking after Bud, but also finds himself caught in the middle of a motley crew of gangsters. He spends most of the movie running away from the bad guys, carrying along with him a big duffel bag of cash with Bud in it. 

Aronofsky initially kept the cat casting call within the US, but the search eventually expanded. That was how the director found Tonic, who is based in Canada with his trainer Melissa Millett.

A rescue cat, Tonic is no stranger to films, having played the undead Church in the 2019 adaptation of Stephen King’s Pet Sematary. The feline star also appeared in Eli Roth’s horror flick Thanksgiving (2023).